Race car built by U of C team headed for U.S. competition

A team of University of Calgary students is on their way to Lincoln, Nebraska to enter a race car they built into an international competition.

A team of between 15 and 20 people, consisting mainly of engineering and business students, will participate in the Formula Student Automotive Engineer contest from June 15 to 18.

Taylor Scurfield, a U of C engineering student, said the Schulich Racing team has high hopes for the competition.

“It’s a two-thirds F1 replica car, and kind of the idea behind the competition would be that each university was contracted to create a prototype for a car manufacturing company, and so it’s designed and built from the ground up every year,” Scurfield explained.

“This year we’re actually very excited, because I think we have the best car we’ve ever built, and I know for a fact that we have more testing than we’ve ever done before.”

The Schulich team spent all year designing and building the car, translating to thousands of hours of work and testing. Unique features of this year’s car include the construction material — it was created using carbon fibre made in-house.

“It just gives our car a bit more of an edge, because we save some extra weight, and the cars are fairly small, so every bit of weight helps,” said Scurfield.

Other special features include a light that will monitor the engine’s heat temperature during endurance testing.

Scurfield said the team spent more time with the race car this year — an accomplishment that he expects will give the U of C team an edge as it competes in the international event.

“The more time that we spent on it, we’ve been able to get everything figured out more than in the past, and I really think this year will be the difference maker,” he said.

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